Bomb strikes funeral as blasts kill 40 in Baghdad

Thursday, 27 January 2011 09:10

A car bomb ripped through a funeral tent in a mainly Shiite area of Baghdad on Thursday, the deadliest in a series of attacks that killed at least 40 people.

The blasts were the latest in more than a week of bombings that have killed more than 200 people, raising concerns about an uptick in violence as the U.S. military prepares to withdraw from the country.

The violence has mainly targeted the majority Shiite community and Iraqi security forces, posing a major challenge to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his fragile coalition government that was seated last month.

The car that exploded about 2 p.m. Thursday had been parked with the vehicles of other mourners, several yards (meters) away from the tent, so it wouldn't raise suspicion, police said. Several other cars were set afire and the force of the blast damaged nearby houses.

At least 37 people, including four children and three women, were killed and 78 wounded, according to police and hospital officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.

Ali Kamil, a 22-year-old college student who lives nearby, said he rushed to the scene and saw the blaze still raging. He said young men were throwing stones at the Iraqi security forces, accusing them of failing to provide protection.